DEVIL'S ISLAND (1939)

As regular readers of this blog know, I am a big fan of the Warner Brothers B-movie unit that cranked out dozens of unpretentious and entertaining low-budget films in the 30's and 40's. This, however, is one of their rare missteps. Usually, these movies which came in at 60 to 75 minutes sped along quite nicely, so that even if the movie had its weak moments, it was easy for the viewer to get past them because a funny or exciting scene was just around the corner. This one is just a smidge over an hour but feels much longer. The story has potential: Boris Karloff is a French brain surgeon who is sentenced to ten years of hard work on Devil's Island, the notorious penal colony in French Guiana in South America. His crime, operating on a mortally wounded criminal, is clearly based on the case of the real-life Dr. Mudd who served jail time for attending to John Wilkes Booth after Lincoln's assassination, and if the movie had delved into the moral ambiguities of such a situation, it might have been more interesting. However, after Karloff is sentenced, the movie becomes a rather static tale of men surviving the best they can under brutal conditions on the island, made worse by the cruel hand of overseer James Stephenson. When an already weak prisoner dies on work detail, Karloff is involved in a small uprising against the guards and the group is sentenced to death; however, when Stephenson's little daughter is badly hurt in an accident, he strikes a deal with Karloff to save their lives if Karloff will operate. Karloff does, but Stephenson reneges on his deal and executes one of the men. A daring escape follows, with the men helped by Stephenson's wife (Nedda Harrigan) who feels her husband has become too tyrannical. In the end, Karloff is saved and Stephenson is arrested on corruption charges. The story proceeds in predictable steps, with little humor and even less real excitement. Karloff and Stephenson are OK, but the supporting cast (which is often the saving grace of many a B-film) is completely unmemorable. The main musical theme is haunting the first five or six times it's heard, but by time 20, it's irritating. Not exactly terrible, but difficult to recommend. [TCM]